


Centuries

by LunarAsylum



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel Castiel, Fluff, Happy Ending, Human Castiel, King of Hell Dean, Knight of Hell Dean, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 06:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2498123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarAsylum/pseuds/LunarAsylum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean seeks out a human Castiel in order to convince him to retake his Grace after choosing to fall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Centuries

**Author's Note:**

> GAH. SO LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE I'VE WRITTEN. *_* It feels so goooooooood to be back writing. I had a bit of a lapse, where I felt absolutely no inspiration, but now I'm back and about in full swing!

“I want you to tell me where he is.”

 

Dark green eyes stared down at the man who was kneeling before him. All he had been searching for for months was answers, and not a soul had been able to provide him with one.

 

“I-I don't know. Honestly, I don't, but I know someone who does.”

 

“That's all I've heard over the past year!” Dean snapped, his eyes seeming to darken for just a moment with his temporary rage. “I've been lead to _you_ , because _you_ were supposed to know where he was.”

 

“I'm a friend of his confidant, that's probably why. Very few people knew directly of his plans all those years ago,” the angel said, his eyes pleading for mercy.

 

“Right, right, his plan to _fall_ , and what, his friends decided it was a grand idea?” the demon growled, eyes still dark. 

 

“It was his choice, Dean. Who are we to stop him?”

 

“Still the sheep as always,” he grumbled with a sigh. “Just tell me how I can find this confidant of Cas' so I can find him.”

 

“He's in Pontiac, Illinois. From what I understand, Castiel decided to return there in order to take back up the mantle of the Novak family. Dean, all you need to understand is that his memories are not reinstated yet. He wanted to wait until a certain age in his life to have them back. Please, out of any respect you ever had for him, do not approach him.”

 

“Respect? I'm _doing_ this out of respect. He did this because of me and Sam. It's _my fault_ he's human and in this situation, and he doesn't deserve this. This life is never worth giving up what he had,” Dean said, his eyes lightening to a bright green. “So don't insult me in thinking that I'm not doing this for him.”

 

“Are you doing it for him or for yourself?”

 

“He wouldn't be where he is if he had known I was alive,” Dean responded harshly. “So he at least needs to know I was alive, that I _am_ alive.”

 

“And if he decided to remain human?”

 

“Then that's his choice. I've lived this many years without him, what's the rest of time?”

 

The kneeling angel watched as the Winchester exited the room, leaving him behind. Heaving a sigh, he had no idea what to expect now that he had revealed Castiel's location. It wasn't fair to him, yet there was no other way to avoid it. Dean would've gone on to find another angel to reveal Castiel's location.

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

“Who are you?” Castiel said, brow furrowed at the man who was standing before him. 

 

“I'm a friend from a long time ago,” the angel said, offering Castiel a smile. “I know that you've been having odd dreams lately, and I thought, perhaps, I could assist.”

 

“'Assist'? What exactly is that supposed to mean?” the other man asked folding his arms across his chest. “You can what, make them end?”

 

“In fact, I can, if you're willing to let me,” the angel responded, still smiling at the human Castiel. The black-haired man seemed to ponder his words for a moment, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet. 

 

“What's your name?”

 

“My name is Hesediel.”

 

“Like an angel?”

 

“Exactly like the angel, yes,” he said, smiling gently. 

 

“Are you an angel?”

 

“Do you believe in angels?”

 

“It's what I've been dreaming about. Angels, and all of them just... I don't know. I keep dreaming about an angel who shares my name.”

 

“Castiel, you mean?”

 

“Yes, how did you know my name?”

 

“As I said before, I'm a friend from a long time ago.”

 

“So you _are_ an angel.”

 

Hesediel chuckled at that, still smiling as he let his hands drift into his pants pockets.

 

“That would insinuate you believe yourself to be an angel.”

 

Castiel flushed at that and looked away, his arms tightening over his chest. 

 

“Would you like me to help you, Castiel?”

 

“Please.”

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

 

Several hours later, Castiel awoke, his head swimming with memories that exceeded more than he thought he could handle. Shakily, he sat up from his bed, his eyes hardly focusing on the figure across the room.

 

“Hesediel,” he said quietly, remembering that had been who he had requested reinstate his memories.

 

“No, no, I think not, Cas,” came a deep, gruff voice, one familiar to him, yet somehow foreign.

 

“Who are you?” he said, suddenly on edge as he gripped the edge of his bed. 

 

“Really, Cas? I know you've got your memories back, Hese-what's his name told me,” said the voice again, and the figure stepped forward from the shadows, revealing himself in a massive shock to Castiel.

 

“D-Dean?” he asked, unsure if that was really what he was seeing was real. Perhaps it was a side-effect of his memories returning. 

 

“Yeah, Cas, it's me.”

 

“But... how? You're dead. You died with Sam.”

 

“Right, that's what you think, but see, I still had this,” Dean said as he pulled up his sleeve and flashed his forearm. Glaring back at him was the scar that formed the Mark of Cain, the very bane of Castiel's existence. 

 

It set him further on edge, as he was now human and completely defenseless against a demonic Dean. Was Dean here to kill him for what happened nearly three centuries before? Why wait so long?

 

“Cas, I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to berate you for a very stupid decision,” the man said, moving to take a seat beside him on the bed. “Really? You cast out your Grace for this? For _humanity_?”

 

“I was unhappy as an angel, Dean. I felt that perhaps dying a mortal death as I thought you had would be a fitting salute and nod to you. And perhaps...”

 

“Perhaps what? You'd somehow find me in the eternity afterward? Do you even know where Sam went? I bet you don't, but I do,” Dean said, his brow furrowing as he looked over at Castiel. 

 

“This isn't really all it's cracked up to be, Cas. Humanity, I think, is best experience when you're not actually human. Sammy and I, I think we got the best of humanity, because really, we were the best of humanity.”

 

“That's the most positive I think I've ever heard you, Dean. It's nice.”

 

The Winchester chuckled at that, running a hand through his hair. 

 

“Yeah, well, when you live in solitude for a few centuries, knowing you'll never see your brother, alive or dead, you kind of learn to take life with a couple grains of salt. It keeps me alive when I feel the burn,” he said quietly. “I suppose you don't know the situation going on in hell then, do you?”

 

“What?”

 

“Crowley was usurped a while ago. As far as I know, he's dead, as I've found no trace of him, but uh... I kind of run things now.”

 

“You... killed Crowley?”

 

“No, no, I overthrew the usurper. He was a lame ass piece of shit. Didn't really know how to properly run Hell,” he said, chuckling again. “That's how I know Sam's not there. Sam, somehow, made it upstairs, and I'm happy for him.”

 

“Why didn't you come to me after Sam passed?” Castiel asked suddenly, frowning as he looked into Dean's green eyes. 

 

“That's a complicated story. Neither he nor you knew that I was... uh, dying anyway. The Mark, it was killing me, but he thought I'd successfully gotten rid of it. It caught up with me on a hunt, and it took me down. Sammy never got the back-up he needed and I guess the monster got him. When I woke up, I didn't care enough to look, all I knew was I needed my blade. So I went searching for it, and it took me a lot of time. It was nearly a decade after his death that I found it, and I found the beginning of peace.

 

I figured at that point it was too late for me to even try and contact you, and there was no point in me trying to bring back Sam. So I just carried on. Cain called me shortly after that and I carried my part of the bargain. After that, I decided to raise my own group of Knights, and I gotta tell you, Hell's never been in greater shape.”

 

“You raised the Knights of Hell again?”

 

“They're different from Cain's version. For me, they do only what I tell them. They're the strongest and the most loyal, but they also know that I have nothing precious left for them to destroy me with. That was Cain's mistake. He'd never had a life of solitude and danger. He didn't know that you never make attachments in this life. They only serve to bring you down.”

 

“So why'd you come to me then?” Castiel asked, leaning a little away from Dean. He wasn't sure he understood the Knight's motives.

 

“Because you're an attachment worth having,” Dean said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a glowing vial. The raven-haired man's eyes widened a little as he scooted away from Dean. 

 

“What are you doing with that?” he asked, his hands balled into fists. 

 

“I'm offering you your Grace back. You don't have to use it. You can keep it solely as a reminder, or you can ingest and become an angel again. Your vessel is strong enough since you returned to the Novak family. The choice will always be yours, but I give you myself as incentive,” Dean said gently, his hand holding the vial out for him. 

 

“What does that even mean, Dean?”

 

“It means that I will forsake my place in Hell, give up my position among the Knights and anything else that ties me to them, in order for you to become an angel again.”

 

“Not to be offensive, Dean, but why do you think that would be incentive for me to take my Grace back?”

 

“As far as I've been told, the reason you cast yourself out was because you no longer had connections to humanity, and failed to assimilate yourself back into the angelic lifestyle.”

 

“Right, so how does you being a demon give me reason or validate me leaving my human life?”

 

“Because we'd both be immortal. We could hunt together,” Dean said, clearly confused as to why it wasn't good enough for him.

 

“Dean, I'm happy here.”

 

That was like a slap in the face to Dean, and he couldn't quite explain  _why_ . He didn't understand why he was so heavily relying on Castiel becoming an angel again. It definitely wasn't for the hunting. Dean didn't care what they did if he were to retake his Grace. 

 

“I'm lonely,” he said unthinkingly, and it caught him and Castiel by surprise. 

 

“So you came to me?”

 

“You were the only person I could think of, and when I found out you were human... it mortified me,” Dean said quietly. “I just kept thinking that I'd lose the last person associated with my previous life, and that scared me. It scares me to think that I might forget who I once was.”

 

“Yet you never sought me out before now?”

 

“Because I couldn't really imagine what would happen if I popped up saying 'Hey guys, I'm the king of hell, did I mention I'm also a Knight? Can I talk to Castiel?'. Doesn't seem like the greatest idea, especially when I've spent the last couple of centuries regaining myself and recomposing Hell.”

 

“You make a valid point.”

 

“I thought so.”

 

Castiel chuckled at that. He could see peeks of the old Dean shining through this mature and old demon that Dean now was. 

 

“You would really give up all the things you had now just for me?” he asked after a few moments, really unbelieving. 

 

“I think the saying is 'love makes you do crazy things',” Dean responded after a few moments of silence. It didn't really hit Castiel the weight of what he had said until some time later. 

 

“I do believe that is it, yes,” he said, nodding. Dean smiled and chortled at that, looking away. It was funny how other man hadn't caught the true meaning of his words. 

 

“How about this, then. You don't have to give up anything at all, and I'll still take my grace back. I'll have responsibilities and so will you,” he said quietly taking the vial from the demon's hand and rolling it in his palm. 

 

He was a little skeptical about taking his Grace back in. It was very likely he could implode, but as Dean had stated, there was also a chance he would be fine. 

 

“Live on earth with me.”

 

“Wait, what?” he asked, his brow furrowing. 

 

“Live on earth with me. I don't want to live in Hell, I'd like to feel like my humanity isn't going to be suffocated by miles and miles and pathetic low-life demons,” he said softly, looking over at Castiel. “I can imagine that with your memories of humanity from now and before that Heaven might be a bit overbearing for you as well, so live with me.”

 

It took a few moments of genuinely entertaining the idea before the man responded, still fiddling with the bottle of his grace in his palm. He gave a silent nod, his chest fluttering with excitement at the idea of finally having a sense of normalcy. The smile that stole Dean's face was a brilliant one, seeming to cast away all the darkness that was inside him and bring out the light. Castiel couldn't remember a moment when he had seen Dean this happy, except when he had been with that woman, Lisa and her child.

 

Flipping the cap of the vial, he watched as the wispy substance billow out on the lip of the glass, teasing him with what was to come.

 

“You might want to step back, Dean, just in case this doesn't go well,” he said quietly. 

 

“I know better than to think it'll go wrong,” he said, a gentle smile still lingering on his lips as he remained in his position on the bed.

 

The bottle was emptied moments later, the white Grace disappearing into Castiel's mouth as his body began to glow and scream with the power now coursing through him. Every pore seemed to be expanding and and shrinking at the same time, everything feeling immense yet contained and small. In a flash, it was gone, and the vision of his ceiling was in front of him.

 

“Cas?”

 

It took a few moments for him to register the voice and associate a name to it.

 

“Dean?”

 

“Are you... angelic again?”

 

“Yeah, and I didn't explode. That's always good.”

 

“Yeah, I'd say so. You feeling okay then? No... hiccups or anything?” 

 

Castiel sat up, looking around the room. It was definitely odd to see everything through angelic eyes instead of human ones, and it was even more disconcerting when he looked at Dean. He could tell by the Winchester's expression that his own had not been that great.

 

“You can see my true face, can't you?” he asked, and Castiel nodded, averting his eyes. 

 

“I think it will take time to become used to that ability again,” he said quietly. His mind was racing over everything, and it was at that point that Dean's words had really sunk in to him.

 

“Wait. You said 'love makes you do crazy things'. Does that mean what I think it means?” he asked, frowning slightly as he looked over at the Winchester. The man had a smile on his face, though he wasn't looking at him.

 

“It took you this long to get that?” he asked, laughing lightly as he looked down at his lap.

 

“I simply thought it was a human metaphor for you doing crazy things,” Castiel said, leaning towards Dean. “So you love me? As in how you loved Lisa?”

 

He almost regretted using that as a reference point from the pained expression that crossed the demon's face, though he stood by it when the man looked at him.

 

“Yes, I do,” he said quietly. “It was part of why I didn't want to seek you out. I couldn't face the idea of you rejecting me, because of what I was. Even now, I'm surprised you agreed to this despite my being a demon.”

 

“You're different now than you were then,” the angel responded. “You look different than you did then, your humanity is still intact. You seem much more in control.”

 

“That's what several decades of living with the Mark does for you. I've learned to control a lot more than I think even Cain did. I'm far more powerful than he was,” Dean said, giving him a small smile. “Devil's traps don't work on me at all anymore. A lot of my powers are comparable to your angelic powers.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Well, the Mark is technically of angelic origin, right? It would explain why he and I can smite demons, as well as certain porting abilities. A lot of demons, including other Knights can't do half of what I can do,” Dean said. 

 

“This is true,” Castiel said, looking down. “I had never considered that.”

 

“It's also the reason why I'm able to retain my humanity. It's why my real face looks like the shadow of a skull. I'm not twisted, or warped. I'm simply a demon.”

 

“I think that is what makes my decision that much easier.”

 

Dean looked over at Castiel, seeing that his eyes seemed to be glowing with his grace. It forced the blackness of Dean's soul to cover his eyes. What happened next was almost lost to him as the angel leaned over, their lips touching briefly, but it seemed to feel much longer. The glow of his Grace was gone, and Dean's eyes were restored to their candy apple green. 

 

“Well then,” Dean said after a few moments, not sure what else there could be for him to say. 

 

“So what exactly is your plan for living on earth?”

 

“I was thinking we could figure that out together,” the Winchester said, offering Cas a small smile as he looked away from him.

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

Castiel's hand clasped his, pulling him up off the bed.

 

“Let's go, then.”

 

 

 


End file.
